Mirror For Improved Visibility of Danger Zone Area on Right Side of School Buses

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a mirror and mirror system which can be used in connection with large vehicles, such as school buses, to provide the driver of such vehicles with the ability to view the entire side of the vehicle. While such vehicles currently include side view mirrors attached to the front of the vehicle, these mirrors contain blind spots, such as the area immediately in front of the rear wheel of the vehicle. The current invention overcomes such blind spots by attaching a second mirror to the rear portion of the vehicle that provides a forward view from the rear of the vehicle, including a view of such blind spots. Such front and rear mirrors may be aligned so that the view of the rear mirror is portrayed within the view of the front mirror. As such, the present invention provides the driver with a complete view of the passenger side of the vehicle.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to school buses and other large vehicles and isdirected to reducing fatalities among school age children and reducingthe incidence of accidents involving children, adults, cars and thelike. It is more particularly directed to mirror systems for buses andother vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the last 11 years, school buses have been involved in an average of26,000 accidents each year, according to the NASS-GES (NationalAutomotive Sampling System-General Estimates System) and the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration. During this same period, anaverage of 19 school-age children have been killed in accidents labeled“By Own Bus.” Over the last 30 years, the record is even worse: Duringthat period, an average of one child in the U.S. has been killed by hisor her own bus each school week (National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration, 2000).

Children are at the greatest risk in what is known as the “Danger Zone,”a ten foot area on each side of the bus. A child who has fallen undertheir bus, has unthinkingly crawled under the bus to retrieve a droppeditem, or has been caught by an article of clothing under the right sideof the bus cannot be seen by the driver of the bus.

One child was caught by the handrail of a bus on the drawstring of hercoat, dragged 50 feet and then run over and killed. Another child wasdragged 3-4 feet and lived, suffering a broken leg. Another child wascaught by his mitten string, dragged, and run over and killed. A childwho escaped unharmed had crawled under the bus to place a milk carton infront of the right rear tire, in order to watch the bus crush it. Thedriver counted one child short and went to look. (Congressional RecordVol. 141, No. 62, 1995).

In all these cases, the child in peril was invisible to the driver,despite the existence of six mirrors on most school buses. State lawstypically require bus drives to be buckled, and the most dangerous areanear the right rear tire cannot be seen by the bus driver from his orher seat.

In light of these tragedies, the National Safety TransportationAssociation, National Association for Pupil Transportation recommendsthe following life saving procedures: “Before moving your bus know wherethe children are who have just disembarked. Don't move until you'recertain you know where they are. If you have lost track of a child, donot move the bus, shut off and secure the bus, take the key, get out,and check around and underneath the bus. Err on the side of caution.”

Although these recommendations make sense, and have undoubtedly savedlives on many occasions, experienced bus drivers point out that leavinga bus may not be practical in some instances: With 60 children on a bus,leaving the bus invites the possibility that one of the unruly childrenwill bully and hurt another child or even release the emergency brake.In addition, experienced bus drivers report that an outbreak of hittingand yelling in the back of the bus often requires the driver to lookback in the bus to check on the present danger that someone is beinghurt. Such a distraction often makes it difficult or impossible to keepaccurate count of the children who have left the bus. Anyone who hasridden a school bus regularly will recall such distractions. Driversreport that a group of children sometimes becomes so uncontrollable thatthe drivers' only recourse is to radio the dispatcher to send for thepolice to remove the offenders.

An additional problem comes when other drivers pass illegally on theright of the bus. Surprising as it may seem, impatient drivers who passon the right side of the bus also cause the deaths of school children.Even when children are not involved, a car pulling up on the right sideof the bus may be unnoticed if it stops in the area not visible from thedriver's seat. Seeing that the way appears clear for a right turn, thebus driver may turn into, and damage, the stopped vehicle.

In contrast to previous attempts to provide visibility of the area nearthe right rear tire, the applicant has found that a large circularforward-looking mirror mounted at the right rear of the bus allows thedriver to see the most critical areas on the right side of the bus,areas not previously visible from the driver's seat. In combination withthe standard large rear view mirror on the right side of the bus, thenew mirror makes it possible to see a child who has partially slippedunder the bus, or to see a child who is caught on the bus by his mittenstring, or to see an automobile that has moved into the blind area onthe right side of the bus. In further combination with a large stop signwith blinking stop lights on the back of the subject mirror, the driverconsidering passing on the right has additional notice that such actionis illegal when the bus is stopped.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the present invention to provide improved visibilityfor the right side of a school bus.

It is a another object of the present invention to reduce fatalitiesamong school children who are bussed to school each day.

It is a further object of the present invention to make use of a newmotorized mirror at the right rear of the bus, in combination with anexisting standard forward mounted right, rear view mirror, so that busdrivers can see the area near the right side of the bus and, inparticular, to see children who might be endangered near or under thebus.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide arear-mounted mirror that extends out when the bus is stopped butretracts when the bus starts moving to avoid hitting passersby with themirror.

It is a still further object of the present invention to discourage baddrivers from passing on the right side of the bus, accomplished byproviding a large stop sign with blinking red lights on the right handside of the bus when the bus is stopped.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the typical yellow school bus, with its standard complementof mirrors.

FIG. 2 shows the view in one of the right front mirrors seen by the busdriver of a typical yellow school bus.

FIG. 3 shows those areas of the right side of a typical school bus thatcannot be seen by the driver through the typical right front mirrors.

FIG. 4 shows the view seen by the bus driver in the right front mirrorwhen the forward looking mirror assembly of the present invention hasbeen mounted near the rear of the bus, with the rear facing stop signmounted to the back of the mirror (not shown) and a child in front ofthe right rear tire.

FIG. 5 shows the stop sign mounted on the rear of the forward lookingmirror of the present invention after it has been extended.

Other aspects, advantages and novel features of the present inventionmay be further understood by reference to the following detaileddescription of illustrated embodiment(s) of the invention taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows the typical yellow school bus 1, with its standardcomplement of mirrors. Round mirrors 13 and 14 are intended to provide aview of the right front and right side of the bus, respectively. Roundmirrors 15 and 16 are intended to provide a view of the left front andleft side of the bus, respectively. Large rectangular mirrors 11 and 12function as normal outside rear view mirrors, providing views of thefollowing traffic on the right and left side of the bus, respectively,as well as additional view of the right and left side of the bus itself.Danger zone 7, as shown in FIG. 1, is not visible to the driver in anymirror.

FIG. 1 also shows the a mirror system 21 mounted on the right rear ofthe bus. Mirror system 21 includes a forward facing mirror 23, such asthe Convex Plexiglas Mirror made by C.R. Laurence Company of Los AngelesCalif. and commonly used in factories, for example, to providevisibility around blind corners. Although it is preferred that thissecond mirror 23 is relatively larger that mirror 11 so as to ensurethat the driver has a complete view of the right side of the bus, mirror23 need only be as large as is necessary to provide the driver with aview of danger zone 7.

FIG. 2 shows standard right rear view mirror 11 and its view 41 as seenfrom the perspective of the seated bus driver (not shown). The rightside rear of the bus 42 can be plainly seen, but the danger zone 7 isnot visible.

FIG. 3 again shows the standard right rear view mirror 11 and its view41 as seen from the perspective of the seated bus driver (not shown),along with those area on the right side of the bus which are not in thebus driver's view, a/k/a the danger zone 7. In particular, neither theright front wheel 55 (not shown) nor the rear wheel 51 of the bus isvisible in mirror 11. The presence of a child 53 who had crawled underthe bus in front of the rear wheel 51 cannot be seen in mirror 11 or inany other present mirror.

FIG. 4 shows the view seen in rearward facing mirror 11 when the forwardfacing mirror 23 of the present invention has been mounted and extended.Note that now mirror 23 may include a view 25 which includes a view ofthe danger zone 7, including the rear wheel 51 and child 53 who may havecrawled under the wheel.

FIG. 5 shows the preferred mirror system 21 of the present invention.Mirror system 21 may contain a rearward facing stop sign 31, whichpreferably is attached to the backside of mirror 23. Mirror assembly 21is mounted with arm 25 to motor 27 which may be operated by the driverto swing the mirror assembly 21 out at approximately right angles to thebus to provide visibility of the right side wheels of the bus, therebynotifying other people located behind the bus that the driver hasbrought the bus to a stop and that children may be exiting. Stop sign 31may also contain blinking red stop lights in the manner common to somebus stop signs which swing out to warn following and oncoming traffic tostop while children are exiting.

While several embodiments of the invention have been describedhereinabove, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatthese embodiments may be modified and altered without departing from thecentral spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the preferredembodiments described hereinabove are to be considered in all respectsas illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. Therefore, it is the intention of the inventors to embraceherein all such changes, alterations and modifications which come withinthe meaning and range of equivalency of the claims.

1-13. (canceled)
 14. A method for allowing a driver of a vehicle to viewthe vehicle's opposite side, comprising the steps of: mounting arearward reflecting first mirror toward the front of the vehicle forviewing the rear of the vehicle's opposite side from the driver's seat,and mounting a forward reflecting second mirror toward the rear of thevehicle, said second mirror being viewable to the driver through saidfirst mirror, wherein the second mirror provides a view of an area onthe side of the vehicle when viewed through the first mirror.
 15. Themethod of claim 14 wherein the second mirror is convex to provide a wideangle view.
 16. A method of viewing the opposite side of a vehicle byits driver, comprising the steps of: viewing the rear of the vehiclethrough a first mirror positioned toward the front of the vehicle andreflecting rearward, and viewing forward along the vehicle through asecond mirror positioned toward the rear of the vehicle and viewablethrough the first mirror from the driver's seat.
 17. The method of claim16 further including the step of selectively deploying the second mirrorwhen the vehicle is stopped.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein thesecond mirror is convex to provide a wide angle view.
 19. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the second mirror is larger than the first mirror. 20.The method of claim 14 further including the step of selectivelydeploying the second mirror when the vehicle is stopped.
 21. The methodof claim 14, wherein the second mirror is larger than the first mirror.22. A method of providing a view of an area on the side of a vehicle toa driver of the vehicle comprising: providing a first mirror viewablefrom the driver's seat; and providing a second mirror viewable throughthe first mirror, wherein when the second mirror is viewed through thefirst mirror from the driver's seat the second mirror provides a view ofan area on the side of the vehicle.
 23. The method of claim 22, whereinthe area on the side of the vehicle includes an area between a rearwheel of the vehicle and a front wheel of the vehicle.
 20. The method ofclaim 22, wherein the area on the side of the vehicle includes an areaimmediately forward of a rear wheel of the vehicle.
 21. The method ofclaim 22, wherein the area on the side of the vehicle includes at leasta portion of a rear wheel of the vehicle.
 26. The method of claim 22further comprising: deploying the second mirror from a positiongenerally parallel to the side of the vehicle to a position generallyperpendicular to the side of the vehicle.
 27. The method of claim 22,wherein the second mirror is convex.
 28. The method of claim 22, whereinthe second mirror is larger than the first mirror.
 29. The method ofclaim 22, wherein the first mirror and second mirror are mounted to thevehicle.